My name is Holly Johnson and I am a special needs teacher. I have always had a passion to work with special needs children as my mam is a teacher of the deaf and have been brought up to see what a joy such a rewarding career has brought her.

I personally started my journey as a teaching assistant apprentice when I was 18 years old. I managed to secure a position in a special education school and I was so happy! I then set out a plan as I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I decided to take a year out and concentrate on my level two apprenticeship before I started on my career path. I signed up for my university course after 6 months of my apprenticeship as I was so excited to start. After lots of interviews and tests, I managed to get onto the degree course. The next few years were tough. I completed my level 3 (whilst doing the first year of my degree) and also working full time in the school. I also had two part-time jobs one on a Saturday and Sunday.

This was really tough however after three years I got my degree. I then decided to stay on as a full-time Teaching Assistant and do my PGCE part-time at weekend and night class. Five years later I passed. I then got my dream job as in a special educational needs school.

This is where I am now. I started my NQT year in 2017 and started my first full year teaching in September 2018. I then managed to secure a place on the NPQML course.

I am so excited to start this course. So far it has been really simple and easy to access all of the content as services.

The course is really easy to access and quite similar to blackboard (Northumbria university online portals). You get emails when new content has been posted and alerts when a tutor messages you. So far I have completed two of the online module sections. They were valuable questions which asked to you begin to start and think about yourself as a leader. They were also really interactive and got you to reflect on your current practice.

I am going to be blogging my whole experience on this course and sharing what my expectations are, what my learning entails and how I feel the online and face to face sessions go. I am hoping that the blog will show prospective candidates what it's like to sit NPQML and give you a real insight into what it is like to carry out the course whilst working full time!

Holly x